Chapter 89
AMELIA
What the hell am I even doing here?
Guilt was real, constantly clenching my chest, and the effect was clusterfucked.
I wished I could just stab myself for penance, maybe, inflict the pain so I would suffer instead of his, but life didn’t always go as we wanted it to be.
Instead, here I was at the bar alone when I should be at Ryden’s side, self-loathing— I kept recalling what happened in my head, and I wished I could go back there and change it.
“Give me the strongest you have,” I told the werewolf bartender. It was disgusting that I could smell a woman’s arousal from him. I hoped he washed his hands before he got back to work.
“ID, please?”
I groaned before I let my eyes glow. Couldn’t he smell me?
He nodded and poured me a shot of Tennessee whiskey.
“Thanks.” I gulped it in one shot, making me grimace. The alcohol was nothing compared to the guilt and conscience that burned in my throat.
I put the glass down and asked for another. “Hey. Can I ask you something?”
He smirked and leaned over the counter. “Info not free around here, lady.” He was right, considering this club was swarming with werewolves.
I sighed deeply as I pulled some bills from the high neck cut out on my black bodycon dress. I came prepared. When you dress for the occasion, it made easily for the plan to work.
I placed the bills on the counter. When he tried to grab it, it held it tight. “Info first. How can I be so sure your info is worth my money? And I haven’t told you what I want.”
“Shoot.”
“Have you heard of the black smoke that killed our kind?”
He snorted. “I heard a lot about it from my pack, but I’ve never seen one. One guy from my pack, Jeff. He said his friend from college got scratched by it and didn’t make it. I don’t believe it, though. Word on the street is controlled by someone. If ain’t a demon, then maybe a deep covert military research trying to weaponize it.”
“Controlled by someone, huh?” I nodded. He was right about it. The werewolf world knew about it, and we couldn’t even do something to stop it. And the council was basically useless. “Do you know anyone being possessed?”
“Seriously?” He frowned.
“I wouldn’t ask and pay you if I’m not serious.”
“What are you?” He looked at me.
“Just a concerned citizen.” I arched a brow, waiting for him to answer my question.
“No, but if I hear anything, I will tell you. Just drop by here. I work every night.”
“Thanks.” I sipped the whiskey and pushed the bill towards him.
The music blasted, ringing in my ears. Now it was the time to blend in with these horny werewolves. I had a strong feeling they were taking this drug made of mold with the same effect of opioids and molly combined. It could kill humans, but not us.
I pulled the stick, and my hair dropped, cascading down my shoulders and I started dancing, seducing my way towards the center of the dance floor.
I didn’t know how to dance. I was an awkward kid growing up in a werewolf community. I was an outcast until I met Ren and was trained by highly skilled people and transformed into myself today.
I hardly swayed my hips, the dress that hugged my figure slid up my thighs, barely covering my ass. I chose the high neck to cover my mark. I sprayed too much cologne to mask Ryden’s scent on me, and my effort started to pay off.
There were shewolves in the club tonight, but when your intention was for male werewolves to draw their attention to you, then you need to make a little sacrifice because I didn’t only come here for information.
A strong male scent with a strong gust of tobacco, cedar, and the fierce aroma of a certain spice instantly my nostrils. It was pretty much enticing and addicting. It seemed familiar, yet strange. As my skin began to warm, I knew for sure it wasn’t from the alcohol I drunk. It was definitely from the effect of this man’s scent that was almost laced with a spell. He was unequivocally an alpha— an extremely powerful alpha— even more powerful than Ryden.
I groaned when someone touched my elbow.
“Miss,” an alcoholic breath whispered to me.
“Touch me again and I will break your windpipe.” I turned around, and I met a man twice Ryden’s size and a foot taller than me or more, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t break his throat because he wasn’t the alpha I was looking for.
“My boss is inviting you to his VIP room.” His voice was deep. He was wearing an all-black outfit, and his accent was a huge giveaway that he was not from around here. He sounded like Slavic.
“I respectfully declined.” I went back to dancing, and I still felt him behind me.
“My boss doesn’t accept no for an answer.” He dragged the word answer.
“Give a middle finger to your boss then. If he wants to invite me, he can do it himself unless he’s scared of a little werewolf’s rejection, otherwise, he can suck his dick.”
He growled. When I turned around, his nose was flaring. His hands formed into fists.
“You can’t scare me, bud.” I patted his chest and walked past him.
I knew the alpha heard my word. Now was the time to have a lone time with him, that was, if he would take the bait.
I left the club and used the exit. The smell of vomit and piss almost made me puke. The alley was eerily silent, except for the faint sound of the music and the clicking sound of my heels.
Remember when girls got holdup, kidnapped, or violated in the movies? This was the same scenario where I put myself into. I just hoped it was worth the risk.
I made out a few feet from the club, and he hadn’t shown up. I guess he didn’t take my bait. I thought of going back, but this plan always worked for most people. But he must not be one of those people.
“You declined my invitation.” His voice was calm, confident, and deep, and he sounded older than I initially thought.
My heart nearly stopped, but I was also grinning deep inside. I stopped and sighed. “I learned from the best, not to accept invitations from strangers.”
“He must be a great guy.” He walked. I could hear his strong footsteps getting closer, and my hyper-senses heightened.
My wolf stirred and purred.
What the hell?
What intrigued me the most was, that this man was both a threat and something else, like I knew I could trust him, and that was what scared me the most.
I turned around and faced the faceless man who now had a face. My brow arched. My heart pumped so hard in my chest he could probably hear it.
“Mine.” My wolf purred.
“No. You’re wrong.” I inwardly told my wolf. “That’s impossible.” But there was something about this man that was nearly difficult to ignore.
My mouth parted as I felt like I’d seen him before and almost knocked me off guard. He was tall, two inches taller than Ryden. He was handsome with dark hair and a five o’clock shadow. His facial features were rough like he always handled difficult decisions in his life. His emotionless deep blue eyes stared at me with interest, checking me out. He wore an expensive dark blue suit and white shirt, but he ditched the tie.
The way he stood, he was indeed an alpha and something else. He exuded confidence, too confident, as if he always got what he wanted.
It was wrong to compare because I loved Ryden. He was my mate and my husband, but there was just something about this man that fascinated me so much, that it triggered something inside me. And the reason why I accepted this assignment.
“It’s a she, actually, and yes, I don’t accept an invitation from a male stranger.” I smiled.
“Amelia, I’m—”
My heart pumped so hard. I’d trained so hard not to react in this kind of situation, but tonight I failed. “How do you know my name?”
He smiled. Something in his smile that broke out goose flesh in my skin, and that he knew me better, inside and out like we’d met many times before, yet I had no recollection of those memories. “I know a lot about you, Amelia, things that most people don’t, even your mate, but what I couldn’t figure out is where you came from, no record of your existence, where you were born, and your parents. You didn’t exist until your adoption when you were months old.” Was that a trick question?
I shrugged. “Then maybe I’m an alien.”
“That’s right. Maybe you came from the sky.” The way he said it, it felt like he meant it.
“I should go. Someone is waiting for me at home.”
“Your mate?” He grimaced as if he swallowed a bile.
“Yes.”
“It’s strange for a mated she-wolf drinking alone in the bar and dancing around drug-induced horny werewolves. Why is that?”
“It’s called none of your business.”
He chuckled. The corner of his lips curved up. “You misunderstood my invitation. I’m inviting you to work with me, to do better with a bigger purpose. I know you’re a strong well-trained werewolf, and I could use someone like you, and I pay well.”
“Is that so?” I snorted and arched my brows. “You’ve been intensely staring at my cleavage, my thighs, my neck as if you wanted to bite me since you followed me here, and every time you swallowed your eyes darkened, and it’s creepy.”
The worst part was, we had these blood-curdling connections and the thought of accepting his invitation had crossed my mind if I didn’t have a mate. I knew my wolf was wrong about it, but I couldn’t deny what I felt strange in a million ways.
He laughed. “Okay, Amelia.” Even the way he called my name it crept up my skin as if he had touched me many times before. “You got me. You’re very interesting and beautiful, and you’re fucking hot. I’m not mated, so forgive my enthusiasm.”
“So it’s fine with you to be with someone who has a mate.”
“If it’s you, yes,” he answered without an ounce of hesitation.
I shook it off. “Asshole.”
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and smiled, showing off his perfect white teeth. “Meet me at the club at nine tomorrow night if you change your mind.”
He was already leaving when I called him. “Hey. I don’t even know your name.”
He was still smiling when he turned his head and looked over his shoulder. “It’s Lucius. Alpha Lucius.”
Oh, Goddess. The Alpha King. I’d never wished to be wrong until tonight.